ANCHORAGE, Alaska— Conservation and Alaska Native groups have a green light to hold President Trump accountable to the rule of law over his attempt to jettison a permanent ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

A federal district court in Alaska yesterday rebuffed efforts by the Trump administration and the oil industry to dismiss the case, rejecting arguments that public-interest advocates were barred from challenging the decision, which would dramatically ramp up oil spill risk and threaten wildlife and coastal communities.

The administration and the American Petroleum Institute had disputed the groups’ ability the bring the lawsuit on a host of grounds, including that Trump’s action should not be subjected to review by any court at all. But the court rejected those arguments across the board and is now set to determine whether Trump broke the law in trying to undo permanent protections established for the Arctic and Atlantic under President Obama.

“This is a huge first step toward blocking Trump’s plan to turn our oceans into oilfields,” said Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re confident the court will see right through this reckless giveaway to the oil industry that threatens polar bears, whales and coastal communities with devastating oil spills. We’ll keep fighting to ensure the Arctic and Atlantic oceans stay off limits to dirty, dangerous drilling.”

“This an important reminder that the president is not above judicial review of his actions, but it is just the first step,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. “The threat of devastating oil spills associated with Trump’s risky offshore drilling proposal puts coastal economies and ways of life at risk while worsening the consequences of climate change. We look forward to working with our fellow plaintiffs to show in court that the president acted outside his authority when he removed protections for these waters.”

“President Trump tried to shut the courthouse door. But the court’s order keeps the door open and affirms that we are a country of laws; the president gets no exception,” said Erik Grafe, an attorney with Earthjustice representing the plaintiffs. “We now look forward to demonstrating to the court that President Trump violated the law and the constitution in attempting to undo the Arctic and Atlantic drilling ban.”

“Trump’s brazen attempt to strip protection from 128 million acres of U.S. ocean waters for the benefit of polluters is unlawful,” said Niel Lawrence, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Now he will have to answer for it in a court of law.”

“The oceans and the species within them will get their day in court, but they deserve protection from President Trump’s attempts to plunder our natural heritage. This administration’s cynical and shortsighted offshore drilling plans must be stopped,” said Jason Rylander, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife.

“Once again, the courts are reminding Donald Trump that he is not above the law,” said Lena Moffitt, senior director of the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign. “This is yet another example of Trump overreaching in his reckless attempts to give our public lands and waters away to the fossil fuel industry. We will continue to fight back against Trump’s illegal actions and keep these protections for our oceans in place.”

“As the Trump administration does all it can to quash public participation in our democracy, we applaud the court for upholding the public’s right to have a say in the fate of its communities and vital resources. Trump’s reckless offshore drilling plan threatens our coasts, communities and climate, and we look forward to showing that his actions also violated the law,” said Mary Sweeters, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace.

“This fight is far from over, but yesterday’s decision at least ensures that America’s public lands and waters will have their day in court,” said Kristen Miller, conservation director at the Alaska Wilderness League. “Trump and his lackeys don’t get to ignore the law or the principles America was founded on whenever it suits them. The American public has overwhelmingly spoken out in favor of protecting our oceans and coastlines and the communities and wildlife that depend on them, and now Trump cannot ignore their voices. We are the guardians of these waters. Keeping them off limits to development and protected for the good of future generations.”http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news ... 0-2018.php

following the evidence from the Russian side of the investigation led the Special Counsel's Office to Roger Stone

Saturday’s March for Our Lives was expected to draw around 500,000 people to the nation’s capital to protest against gun violence and demand stronger gun laws following last month’s massacre in Parkland, Florida.

But according to the earliest estimates, crowd size far exceeded expectations, with about 800,000 people turning out for the event. One veteran D.C. journalist said he’s “never seen crowds” like the one he saw Saturday.https://shareblue.com/march-for-our-liv ... uguration/

Planned Parenthood receives $9 million gift to open new clinics in West TexasFILED UNDERHEALTH CARE AT 3 DAYS AGO SHARE

An unnamed Texas donor has promised $9 million to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas to help construct two new health centers in West Texas within the next year, the nonprofit confirmed this week. The group has not said whether the new clinics would be abortion providers.Planned Parenthood has had no clinics to offer abortion or other services in the region since 2013, shortly after Texas passed a law placing tough restrictions on groups that perform abortions. The laws were eventually struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. But advocates say the damage had already been done as many clinics did not reopen.

The group, which provides health services such as preventive care, contraception, sexually transmitted disease testing and abortions, has faced an uphill battle over the past few years.It was forced out of the Texas’ Women's Health Program in 2011, which left $30 million in federal Medicaid dollars on the table. The state became “ground zero” in a national debate over whether public money should go to abortion providers.There are currently 35 Planned Parenthood health centers in the state, of which six offer abortions. The majority of its locations are clustered around major metro areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin.

Two previous centers in West Texas — in San Angelo and in Midland — closed in 2013.The CEO of the Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, Ken Lambrecht, announced the donation from a long-time supporter and the plans for the new West Texas centers during a recent luncheon in Dallas for which the keynote speaker was Cynthia Nixon, an award-winning Sex and the City star now running for New York governor. That event, to benefit the Dallas chapter, raised $1.15 million.

However the organization is in the early phase of a broader campaign to raise funds for construction of new facilities and the continued updating of existing ones.Besides the $9 million dollar gift, a separate donor has committed $800,000. The construction timeline and specific locations of the two centers have not been determined.https://www.dallasnews.com/business/hea ... west-texas

following the evidence from the Russian side of the investigation led the Special Counsel's Office to Roger Stone

BY ROSECRANS BALDWINApril 5, 2018We all knew the legendary outerwear company Patagonia lived and breathed the adventurous life. We knew they cared about the environment. But it wasn’t till Trump came along that we realized they were ready to fight.

Patagonia was built in the image of its founder, Yvon Chouinard. In late January, when we met for the first time, that image included a flannel shirt, beat-up trousers, and flip-flops. Chouinard is an unlikely nominee for wealthiest man in the room. He walks with an air of deflection, as if to duck attention. “It's funny, the first time I met him,” the celebrated mountain climber Tommy Caldwell told me, “I walked into the cafeteria at Patagonia, and I was like, ‘That guy looks like a homeless dude.’ ”Chouinard is both a beatnik dropout and a renegade capitalist. A revolutionary rock climber in his day, who still disappears regularly to surf and fly-fish, he oversees a corporation that did $800 million in sales last year. At 79, Chouinard looks like a recovering mountain troll who enjoys sunshine, food, and wine but will probably outlast the rest of us if the apocalypse hits tomorrow. “I've spent enough time in the mountains,” he told me, “that I can get from point A to point B safely and efficiently. If shit hits the fan, I could feed my family off the coast. But I'm totally lost in the desert. I don't understand the desert at all.”In the months leading up to our meeting, Chouinard and Patagonia had seen a few disasters. The Thomas wildfire, the largest in California history, torched the hills around the company's Ventura headquarters. Five employees lost their homes, and then came the mudslides. All of which took place while Patagonia dealt with a crisis back east: a decision by President Trump, the great un-doer, to shrink some of his predecessor's national monuments. The pledge was a first for an American president; limiting the size of monuments like Bears Ears in Utah would mean the largest reduction of protected land in U.S. history. Which is what led Patagonia, in early December, to change its home page to a stark message: “The President Stole Your Land.”In response, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources sent out an e-mail with the subject line “Patagonia: don't buy it.” This wasn't just Trump whining on Twitter that Nordstrom wasn't supporting his daughter's fashion line. The federal government, run by allegedly pro-business Republicans, basically called for the boycott of a privately held company—provoking a former director of the Office of Government Ethics to label the action “a bizarre and dangerous departure from civic norms.”Chouinard has been known to be a prickly contrarian. He doesn't do e-mail. His cell phone goes largely untouched. But he's adept at delivering powerful sound bites. In December, Chouinard went on CNN—wearing what looked to be the same flannel shirt from the day we met—and said, “I think the only thing this administration understands is lawsuits. We're losing this planet. We have an evil government.… And I'm not going to stand back and just let evil win.”Which explains why Patagonia is presently suing the White House in federal court.

Yvon Chouinard started out making gear for himself and his climbing buddies, including Tom Brokaw (right). COURTESY OF RICK RIDGEWAY / PATAGONIA

This is not your parents’ fleece-maker. We're past the old jokes about Patagucci or Fratagonia. Sure, you still see a Synchilla vest on every venture capitalist in Palo Alto; not for nothing does the Jared Dunn character on Silicon Valley possess a Patagonia collection supreme. But the vest also crisscrosses popular culture: DeRay Mckesson, one of the faces of Black Lives Matter, wears Patagonia so often his vest has its own Twitter feed. A$AP Rocky shows up in Snap-T sweaters. Louis Vuitton cribbed its Classic Retro-X jacket for a mountaineering look. Universities from Oregon to Ole Miss are Patagonia-saturated, and meanwhile, vintage finds—the rarest featuring the original “big label” logo—fetch a premium on eBay.

The company's HQ looks like a cross between a college campus and a recycling center. Solar panels everywhere. Wet suits drying on the roofs of cars—the five-acre spread is a short walk from the beach. The company has an on-site school where employees can enroll their kids through second grade, one of the reasons that Patagonia has near gender parity among employees. Many of its CEOs have been female, including the current one, Rose Marcario. Chouinard writes in his memoir–cum–business bible, Let My People Go Surfing, “I was brought up surrounded by women. I have ever since preferred that accommodation.”

Chouinard was born in Maine but formed in California. The son of a hardworking French-Canadian carpenter, he moved with his family to Burbank, just north of Los Angeles, in 1946, when Chouinard was 8; it was his mother's idea, to improve his dad's asthma. In California, Chouinard stood out, not in a good way. He was short, spoke French, and had a name like a girl. He hated school. High school history class was for practicing holding his breath, so he could free-dive deeper to catch wild lobster off Malibu. “I learned a long time ago that if you want to be a winner,” he told me, “you invent your own games.” So he ran away, to Griffith Park to hunt rabbits, the Los Angeles River to catch crawdads. It was a funny wilderness in the Valley—his favorite swimming hole was fed by a movie studio's film-development lab. “Yeah, I used to swim in the outfall,” he said, cracking up.

Then he discovered climbing. In the 1950s, age 16, Chouinard drove to Wyoming and climbed Gannett Peak, the state's highest mountain. Soon he met other young climbers, like Royal Robbins and Tom Frost, and migrated to Yosemite, where he lived off scraps—at one point, tins of cat food—and made first ascents up the granite walls. “In the '60s, it was kind of the height of the fossil-fuel age,” he said. “You could get a part-time job anytime you felt like it. Gas was 25 cents a gallon. You could buy a used car for 20 bucks. Camping was free. It was pretty easygoing.”Chouinard and his friends would transform rock climbing, helping to bring about the modern “clean” version, where you no longer hammer iron spikes into the cracks to aid your progress. This led to athletes like Caldwell, a Patagonia “climbing ambassador,” pulling off accomplishments no one thought possible—like the first free climb of Yosemite's Dawn Wall. Chouinard also met his wife of 47 years, Malinda, in Yosemite. At the time, she was a climber who worked as a weekend cabin maid. According to Chouinard, the moment that clinched it was a day they were hanging out and Malinda saw some women pull up and throw a beer can out the window. She told them to pick it up. They gave her the finger. Malinda went over, tore the license plate off their car with her bare hands, and turned it in to the rangers' office. Chouinard was in love.

Patagonia got its start as Chouinard Equipment, selling the climbing gear that Yvon was making for his friends. The first apparel was equally functional, designed to resist rock: sturdy corduroy trousers, stiff rugby shirts like the ones Yvon brought back from a climbing trip in Scotland. When the clothing started to take off, they decided to separate the garments from the gear; they just needed a good name. As Chouinard explained: “To most people, especially then, Patagonia was a name like Timbuktu or Shangri-la—far-off, interesting, not quite on the map.”

These days, that “far-off” land is thriving. With Marcario at the company, revenue and profits have quadrupled. In addition to clothing, the company produces films, runs a food business, even has a venture-capital fund to invest in eco-friendly start-ups; one, Bureo, makes skateboards and sunglasses from former fishing nets. Along the way, Patagonia began donating 1 percent of its sales to environmental groups—$89 million as of April 2017—and led the garment industry in cleaning up its supply chains, demanding better practices from factories overseas. (Chouinard, his wife, and their two adult children remain the sole owners of Patagonia.)

For all the success, an enduring thorn sticks in Chouinard's side: A clothing company can't help but pollute. This season's new puffy jacket is tomorrow's landfill. “The best thing you can do for the planet as far as clothing goes is to buy used clothes and wear them until you just can't wear them anymore,” Chouinard said. “It's like a car. If you get rid of your Chevy and buy a Prius, you're not doing anything for the planet—you just put one more car on the road. Someone else is going to be driving your Chevy.”

In 2011, on Black Friday, Patagonia ran a full-page ad in The New York Times, headlined “Don't Buy This Jacket.” The company vowed to repair or recycle old garments while also pleading for customers to stop buying crap they didn't need. Of course, Patagonia's ad made headlines—and the company sold a ton of jackets. “But it also forced us to put in the largest garment-repair center in North America,” Chouinard said. “I made a commitment to our customer that we were going to put as much quality as we could into the product. If it breaks down, we were going to fix it, and if you no longer want it, we're going to find another home for it, and then when it's finally completely finished, we were going to recycle it into more product.” He added, “It wasn't a way to sell more product, even though, of course, that jacket sold like crazy. It's kind of Zen. You do the right thing and good things happen.”

In the Trump era, Chouinard and his company feel galvanized. Following the election, a junior employee had the goofy idea to give away Patagonia's Black Friday profits to hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations, the kind that often work for changes the current administration hates. But not just a share of the day's revenue: all of it. The idea was kicked up the chain. Within days, the company had made a promise on social media. Sales started to pour in.

The previous year, Patagonia had done $2.5 million on Black Friday. In 2016 it was $10 million—and they gave it all away. “It cost us a bunch of money,” Chouinard said, “because it was total revenue. But 60 percent of the customers were new buyers. Sixty percent. It was one of the best business things we've ever done.”

In Ventura, weeks after the Thomas fire, the air still smelled of smoke. Patagonia's headquarters had been used to house evacuees until the fires got too near. Later, the Ventura store gave away long underwear to firefighters working nights in the mountains and fishing waders to crews trying to find people in the mud. I felt a little awkward, then, considering the context, when I told Chouinard that Patagonia's activism seemed pretty convenient when it did so well for the bottom line. What's “Zen” to his mind might sound to others like “good marketing.” He conceded the point, somewhat, but strongly disagreed: “What we say we're doing, we're actually doing. A lot of companies are just greenwashing, and young people can see right through it. Kids are smart, so we don't talk down to them. Our marketing philosophy is just: Tell people who we are. Which is, tell people what we do, and don't try to be anything more than that.”

I asked Chouinard about the lawsuit and his personal feelings about Trump. He thought for a moment, perhaps to contain himself. “What pisses me off about this administration is that they're all these ‘climate deniers’—well, that's bullshit. They know what's happening. What they're doing is purposely not doing anything about climate for the sake of making more money.” He paused, bowed his head, and scraped his fingernails on the table. He sat up again. “That is truly evil. That's why I call this administration evil. They know what they're doing, and they're doing it to make more money.”

Gradually, the conversation went even darker. About Trump, Chouinard added, “It's like a kid who's so frustrated he wants to break everything. That's what we've got.” I asked sarcastically if any part of him was an optimist. Marcario, sitting next to him, laughed loudly. “Did you just ask Yvon if he's an optimist?” Chouinard smiled and cocked his head. “I'm totally a pessimist. But you know, I'm a happy person. Because the cure for depression is action.”

Patagonia has always worn its pro-environment politics on its fleeced sleeve. The latest fight is no different. COURTESY OF TIM DAVIS / PATAGONIA

In December, Chouinard was invited to Washington to testify before the House Committee on Natural Resources. He refused. In a response Patagonia made public, Chouinard wrote to the committee chairman: The American people made it clear in public comments that they want to keep the monuments intact, but they were ignored by Secretary Zinke, your committee, and the administration. We have little hope that you are working in good faith with this invitation. To me, he scoffed and shook his head; Washington's the kind of desert a man like him could get lost in. “You sit down in a little chair, and they're up on high chairs looking down at you, and they give you two and a half minutes to give your testimony,” he said. “I'm not going to play that game.”It reminded me of how Chouinard had described his childhood, growing up in Burbank, facing off against teachers and bullies. When I asked him how it felt to be attacked by the administration, he laughed. “I'm stoked. If you're not getting attacked, you're not trying hard enough.”

Utah is currently feeling the effects of one of the company's political actions. The outdoor-retail industry gathers each winter at an enormous trade show to flaunt new gear. Traditionally, the event had been held in Salt Lake City, giving the city a roughly $20 million boost—until last February, when Patagonia led the charge to move the show. Along with companies like REI and The North Face, Patagonia had gotten fed up with Utah's Republican governor, Gary Herbert, who was determined to roll back protections on his state's public lands.

Herbert was reportedly furious. Montana senator Jon Tester said the relocation had sent “a hell of a message.” At this year's show, in Colorado, it was a topic of conversation everywhere I went. An industry veteran pointed out to me how, for one example, REI has plenty more members than the NRA but no lobbying muscle to compare. Now maybe that could change.

“That’s why I call this administration evil. They know what they’re doing, and they’re doing it to make more money.”I wandered the trade show for two days. Among the tens of thousands of attendees, Patagonia was easily the unofficial clothier of the convention, if not the city of Denver. Backpacks, jackets, trucker hats. On the street, outside the convention center, a man selling a newspaper that benefits the homeless, the Denver Voice, was wearing a Patagonia hat and top-of-the-line down jacket.At one point, I caught a panel of executives discussing access to public lands. Corley Kenna, Patagonia's director of global communications, mentioned that, in addition to what had happened in Utah, numerous other monuments were on the chopping block—not to mention the Arctic Refuge, which Trump had just opened for oil drilling, or U.S. coastlines, which he'd vowed to exploit for drilling, despite resistance from the vast majority of the states themselves. Kenna pledged that the company, with its partners, would maintain its resolve: “We're fighting an administration that lies, that flat-out lies.”

Building off the momentum around public lands, Patagonia is doubling down on its activist streak. In February, it launched a new online platform to connect customers with environmental groups. This spring it will announce a certification it's spearheading for “regenerative organic agriculture,” Chouinard's latest obsession. That's the practice where farmers, through topsoil management, absorb carbon from the climate. As Chouinard sees it, it's possibly our best shot against climate change—and likely good for Patagonia's bottom line. “In business, this is what we do here—we just break the rules,” he said. “Life is so much easier by breaking the rules than trying to conform to the rules. It's so much easier.”

For a doomsayer on the verge of becoming an octogenarian, Chouinard stays awfully busy: writing op-eds, developing new products, stoking outrage. Assuming he doesn't get cancer from those childhood swims in photo-processing chemicals, I don't just think he'll outlast Trump, who's eight years his junior; he'll probably outlast me, and I'm only staring down 41. The solution, Yvon-style, would appear to be to remain active, to remain engaged. In a 1992 letter to employees titled “The next hundred years,” Chouinard wrote, “I have a little different definition of evil than most people. When you have the opportunity and the ability to do good and you do nothing, that's evil. Evil doesn't always have to be an overt act. It can be merely the absence of good.” The cure is action.Rosecrans Baldwin's latest novel, The Last Kid Left, was one of NPR's Best Books of 2017.https://www.gq.com/story/patagonia-versus-donald-trump

following the evidence from the Russian side of the investigation led the Special Counsel's Office to Roger Stone

The Republican former Speaker of the House has joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a company that cultivates, processes and dispenses cannabis in 11 U.S. states. Boehner’s endorsement, after saying nine years ago he was “unalterably opposed” to legalization, could be considered a watershed event: Marijuana has gone mainstream.

“Over the last 10 or 15 years, the American people’s attitudes have changed dramatically,” he said in an interview. “I find myself in that same position.”

Sixty-four percent of Americans, including a majority of both Republicans and Democrats, want to legalize it, according to an October Gallup survey. That’s the most since the pollster began asking the question in 1969, when 12 percent of the population favored legalization.

Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld will join Boehner on the advisory board of Acreage, which holds 35 licenses for cannabis businesses in the U.S. Boehner, 68, was first elected to the House of Representatives from Southwest Ohio in 1990. He was Speaker from 2011 to 2015, when he resigned amid problems with an increasingly fractious Republican caucus.Since then, he’s served as a board member for tobacco company Reynolds American Inc. and adviser for global law firm Squire Patton Boggs US LLP. Weld, 72, who was governor from 1991 to 1997, was the Libertarian Party’s candidate for vice president in 2016.

‘Immensely Positive’

“We view this advocacy that we get from these two gentlemen as immensely positive for the industry,” said George Allen, Acreage’s president.The politicians are a sign of a watershed moment for the industry, according to Vahan Ajamian, an analyst at Beacon Securities Ltd.…

Meek Mill has been released from prison - five months after being sentenced for breaking the terms of his probation.

"While the past five months have been a nightmare, the prayers, visits, calls, letters and rallies have helped me stay positive," he said in a statement.

The 30-year-old was due to serve between two and four years but a court granted him bail due to the "credibility" concerns of a witness.

Beyonce, Jay-Z and comedian Kevin Hart were part of a campaign to free him.

Just hours after being released the rapper attended a basketball game in his home city of Philadelphia.

He was given the honour of ringing the ceremonial Liberty Bell which signals the start of the game.

Meek Mill and Kevin HartGetty ImagesHours after being released Meek Mill attended a Philadelphia 76ers game where he was joined by comedian Kevin HartAnother influential name behind the campaign to free Meek Mill was Michael Rubin - co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team.

The billionaire picked the rapper up in a helicopter before the pair headed to the game.

Presentational white spaceMeek Mill, whose real name is Robert Williams, was arrested in August 2017 for reckless driving.

It happened while he was riding a dirt bike in New York filming a music video.

Although the charges were later dropped, a judge ruled the arrest itself was a breach of his probation.

He'd been on probation since 2008, when he was convicted on drug dealing and gun charges.

However, the decision to jail him last November came as a surprise.

His lawyers announced they were going to appeal, claiming he was being unfairly punished and that Meek Mill had turned his life around and was now a role model to others in a similar position.

A high profile campaign to free him began with stars like Jay-Z, Beyonce and Kevin Hart pledging their support to the rapper.

Meek Mill is signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation management group.

A court now has 60 days to decide whether Meek Mill will face a new trial but prosecutors could also choose to completely drop the charges.

Meek Mill said his immediate plans are to "work closely with my legal team to overturn this unwarranted conviction" and resume his music career.

As a gray Dodge accelerated toward the crowd gathered in Charlottesville last year, Marcus Martin made a pivotal, quick decision.

He pushed his fiancée, Marissa Blair, out of the car's path as it barreled through the crowd. As for Martin, he was tossed into the air -- a moment captured in the defining images of the violent protest on August 12. He was left with a broken leg.

The couple got married in a ceremony Saturday, for which more than 30 vendors pitched in to help them experience their dream wedding.

"It proves hate won't win and it proves that there are more good people in the world than there are bad and that love will win," Blair told CNN affiliate WVIR about the community outpouring.

Their ceremony also honored their close friend, Heather Heyer, who was killed in the vehicle attack that day. Heyer, a 32-year-old Charlottesville paralegal, had been demonstrating against the "Unite the Right" rally.

They selected purple -- Heyer's favorite color -- as their wedding color. And Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, led the crowd in a butterfly release in remembrance of her daughter during the wedding, reported WVIR.

James Alex Fields Jr., the man prosecutors say drove the car that killed Heyer and injured Martin, has been charged with murder and other offenses.

"Huey Long once said, “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.” I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."-Jim Garrison 1967

By CAITLIN O'KANE CBS NEWS May 15, 2018, 6:48 PMPolice praise students for one of the "best senior pranks" they've seen

A group of seniors at Cumberland High School in Wisconsin pulled off what the police department called one of the "best senior pranks" ever. CUMBERLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT

Senior pranks are a rite of passage for many high school students across America. Before school lets out for summer and the graduating class leaves the halls of their high school forever, seniors take one last jab at their teachers and principals.

A group of seniors in Cumberland, Wisconsin, left their mark with what the police department called "one of best senior pranks that Cumberland High School has seen."

When grown-ups arrived at the scene, they discovered a what looked like a car crash right through the front of the high school, leaving the back of a car sticking out of a gaping hole in the building. Photos that the school and police department shared are jarring at first — but the accident is completely fake.

On closer inspection, teachers noticed it was only a half of a car, likely from a junk yard, placed in front of a black tarp that looked like a giant hole in the wall. Loose bricks were strewn across the scene, as if the car really had barreled right into the school. The group staged the "accident" right outside of the principal's office, the school district said.

In true senior prank fashion, the windows of the car were decorated with messages saying, "C-ya May 19, 2018!" and "CHS Class of 2018 We're Bustin Out."

In a post on its Facebook page, the Cumberland Police Department wrote, "Hats off to the Cumberland High School Class of 2018 on your senior prank. Congratulations Class of 2018 on one of best senior pranks that Cumberland High School has seen. Congratulations to all the seniors who are graduating."

The high school also posted photos of the "accident." In one photo, students who took part in the prank pose in front of the wrecked car with a sign that raises awareness about teen drinking. "Parents who host lose the most," the banner reads, referring to parents who allow underage kids to drink.

When possible, we all have to find ways to resist. Whether it is filming police assaulting an unarmed man, peacefully protesting by kneeling, or what a young woman did on a Greyhound bus — shutting down some clearly racist border patrol agents.

On June 7, Tiana Smalls wrote on her Facebook that she was on a Greyhound bus from Bakersfield, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. When crossing the state line over to Nevada, the bus driver made an announcement, “We are being boarded by Border Patrol. Please be prepared to show your documentation upon request.”

“Show us your documentation” sounds very much like “Show us your papers” — Tiana was not here for it. According to her, she stood up loudly and said, “This a violation of your Fourth Amendment rights. You don’t have to show them sh*t. This is illegal. We are We are not within 100 miles of an international border so that (sic) have no authority to ask you for anything. Tell them to f*ck off!”

Using Google, she translated what she said to the people on the bus who only understood Spanish. As the border agents got on the bus, they said they were about to ask people for “documentation. Smith says she stood up and yelled, “I’m not showing you sh*t! I’m not driving this bus, so you have no right to ask me for anything! And the rest of you guys don’t have to show them anything, either! This is harassment and racial profiling! Don’t show them a goddamn thing! We are not within 100 miles of a border so they have no legal right or jurisdiction here! Google it.”

Smith said the agents looked “exasperated” and eventually got off the bus. Pretty damn epic. Read her whole full post below, which has gone viral.

Smalls has received tons of media requests from the post. She wrote on her Facebook, “I didn’t do what I did, or share it for accolades or thanks. I appreciate the support, but I’m just little old me. All I wanted to do was let people know that that can and should speak up… even if that means risking being arrested.” She also added, “If you want to thank me, speak up the next time you see someone being discriminated against, just speak up. That’s all I want. I appreciate the love , but please, just pay it forward.”

We love it, Tiana.

"Huey Long once said, “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.” I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."-Jim Garrison 1967

There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi

Wait! What if "google" didn't say that... Do we arrive at the meaning "they" say what reality and speech is? I'm reminded of William Lutz, amd his, book, New Double speak.

“Doublespeak strikes at the function of language-communication between people and social groups-with serious and far-reaching consequences. Our political system depends upon an informed electorate to make decisions in selecting candidates for office and deciding issues of public policy. As doublespeak becomes the coin of the political realm, as doublespeak drives out a language of public discourse that really communicates, speakers and listeners become convinced that they understand such language. We speak today of politicians who don't lie but "misspeak," of "dysfunction behavior" not murder, of a "predawn vertical insertion" not the invasion of another country, of "violence processing" or the "use of force" not of war. When we use such language believing that we are using the public discourse necessary for the health and well being of our community, then, I believe, the world of 1984 is upon us.”― William D. Lutz, Doublespeak Defined: Cut Through the Bull and Get the Point

The New Doublespeak: Why No One Knows What Anyone's Saying Anymoreby William D. Lutz

Exposes the latest doublespeak permeating our language, dissecting how it works and how it affects us as individuals and as a nation. Shows how we can fight this evasive, self-contradictory, or deceptive language; and how we must demand clearer communication.

When did 'google' become the official 'truth teller', is my point. It seems more of a form of The Rorschach test.

Not denigrating what Tiana did, at all, at all, I applaud it and her bravery.... just have qualms about how we turn to it (it being Alphabet/google) to give us meaning, when clearly they aren't trust worthy. Does that make sense to anyone else?

If Barthes can forgive me, “What the public wants is the image of passion Justice, not passion Justice itself.”

"Hi, I'm Muslim and people call me a terrorist. Do you trust me? If yes, hug me."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWhW0sM6koc

This white guy just pulled up in front of my local Mexican restaurant in his big truck, blaring music and saw a group of young Latino men drinking on the sidewalk. He rolled down the window, everyone paused warily. Then he shouts: “I love you, brothers! Fuck Trump! Let’s dance.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh6cFaycdDk

following the evidence from the Russian side of the investigation led the Special Counsel's Office to Roger Stone

I love that video of the Muslim dude getting and giving hugs. It reminds me of the wait in support to get into an Afghani restaurant (named Kabul) here in Seattle just the day after or so after 9/11. Me and my girlfriend waited in line about an hour or more to get in. It wrapped around the block. The outreach and acceptance of humanity was immediate and amazing. Unfortunately it is a little pricey. I have yet to go back because of that. But I had to go in those days.

There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi